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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



proposed to be reorganized in the South? Is 

 that a question to be compromised upon ? How 

 shall it be compromised upon ? Compromised 

 by the Senate giving way? "Why, .sir, if it 

 gave way on that point, no report of a confer- 

 ence committee, I undertake to say, could be 

 adopted in the other branch of this legislature 

 at all. Is the Louisiana bill, so called, to be 

 substituted, in a conference report, for this bill ? 

 I object to that course, not because of what 

 the Louisiana bill contains, but because it pre- 

 sents a scheme diametrically differing from the 

 one now before us,and which, if it is to be con- 

 sidered at all, I insist must be considered in 

 open Senate." 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, said : " I am 

 in earnest, sir, for the passage of some substan- 

 tial measure that shall give relief to our suffer- 

 ing fellow-citizens in the rebel States. The 

 Senate has made its best endeavor ; the House 

 has refused to concur with what we have done ; 

 and the question now is, what action we shall 

 take. The Senator from Ohio, if I understood 

 him, proposed to interpose a motion of delay, 

 to the effect that we should send this proposi- 

 tion of the House back and ask them to vote 

 upon it again. "Why, sir, if we do that, we kill 

 the bill; so I fear, at least. To me it seems 

 plain that out of such a course there can be no 

 substantial result. Farewell, then, during this 

 session to any just and beneficent measure either 

 of protection or reconstruction, both of which 

 I wish to accomplish. Farewell, because there 

 will not be time in which to accomplish this 

 great result. Surely not unless the House 

 should be inspired to a course which is too 

 much to expect. 



"The only remaining question, then, is 

 whether this great measure shall be committed 

 to a conference committee between the two 

 Houses. I have heard it observed on this floor, 

 that the measure was too vast for any confer- 

 ence committee. On that, sir, let me make one 

 remark: there is a time to sow and a time to 

 reap. So, also, there is a time for open debate 

 in this Chamber, and there is a time for the ac- 

 tion of conference committees. We have passed 

 the first stage, and are now in the second. We 

 have arrived at that period when, according to 

 the natural course of business, this great meas- 

 ure can find its solution only through a confer- 

 ence committee. If you set aside a conference 

 committee, you set aside every just and benefi- 

 cent measure of protection or of reconstruction. 

 For one, sir, I will not take that great, that 

 terrible responsibility. I long for something, 

 and I now take the only way which seems to 

 me practicable." 



J\lr. Pomeroy, of Kansas, said : " I gather 

 from the remarks of the Senator from Massa- 

 chusetts, that he sees a way of passing this bill, 

 providing there is a committee of conference, 

 and the two Houses agree to it. I never like 

 to make any reference to the difficulties of 

 passing a bill. Our duty is to do what we can 

 toward passing it. But the Senator having 



alluded to it, I will say that I can see no way 

 of passing this bill, and having it become a law, 

 even if there is a committee of conference and 

 the two Houses agree. I believe it is too late 

 in the day. I do not believe it possible that 

 such a bill as we want can become a law this 

 session, even though the two Houses do agree. 

 I only make that remark in reply to what was 

 said by the Senator from Massachusetts, that 

 some bill might become a law. I have no idea 

 that such a bill as the Senate want, judging 

 from the votes we have had on this bill and the 

 fact that we have passed it, can become a law 

 at this session by any conference whatever." 



Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, said : " I hope that 

 the Senate will insist on its amendment, and 

 concur in the request for a conference. I do 

 not know, I have taken no pains to inquire, 

 what was the leading difficulty or principal 

 difficulty in the minds of gentlemen of the 

 House with reference to the amended bill as we 

 sent it to them ; but I am told that it arose out 

 of a belief that the amendment, what is called 

 the Elaine amendment, as redrawn, had not 

 sufficient safeguards about it; that it left too 

 much to what was supposed to be the rebel 

 element in the original voting; and they did 

 not think that our loyal friends in the South and 

 the loyal portion of the country would be safe 

 under it. That was the leading objection. 

 Now, sir, with the committee that has been 

 appointed there, and which represents that 

 feeling not that the Elaine amendment goes 

 too far, but that it does not go quite far enough 

 there will be no difficulty, probably, in an 

 agreement on something that will be satisfac- 

 tory to both Houses. Whether the bill can be- 

 come a law or not at this session is a question 

 depending not upon us. Our duty plainly is, 

 to do all that we can toward making it a law." 



Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, said: "Usually I 

 would vote for a committee of conference as a 

 matter of course, because where the two Houses 

 disagree, it is necessary that one or the other 

 should yield, and often it applies to each ; but 

 in this case we know, as a matter of fact, that 

 the opposition to this amendment in the House 

 is not one that we can reconcile unless we can 

 mix fire and water. We know that the oppo- 

 sition to the amendment in the House, as it 

 stands upon the record, is from men of extreme 

 opinions from each other; and therefore I can 

 see no reason for sending this to a committee 

 of conference. We know very well that it is 

 impossible to reconcile the opinions of these 

 hostile opponents of the measure without sur- 

 rendering the principle upon which our amended 

 bill is based." 



Mr. Lane, of Indiana, said: "The question 

 here is not one of mere expediency or com- 

 promise. It is a radical, elementary principle, 

 which I cannot abandon under the report of 

 this proposed committee of conference. The 

 House proposed a military bill, pure and sim- 

 ple, for the government of the Southern States. 

 That is doubtless right as a temporary measure, 



